A Flower Blooming
by Lady Hallen
Summary: Mama," Tsuna said, glaring at the pants. "I don't like pants." Nana, who had spent half of her pregnancy wishing for a little girl, blinks down with just a modicum of surprise and little to no resistance to the idea. "Okay," the woman says with a firm nod. "Then we'll buy skirts. What color do you like?"


Tsunade dies after a life lived to the fullest.

She remembers being the godmother to three children and teaching them secret jutsu's that make life easier. (She might have been known more for her healing, but her teammate was _Orochimaru_. If Sakura or Shizune asks her about it, it was payback for giving her gray hairs during their apprenticeship.)

She remembers closing her eyes, being so tired and just releasing the Yin Seal because she didn't have the strength to concentrate on it even while asleep.

She doesn't remember waking up again.

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* * *

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Waking up a boy in a different body is a confusing thing, for everyone.

Luckily, she was young enough when her memories woke up that it isn't so obvious for her mother than it is for her. She was the Godaime, she could master her own bowels and deal with being a boy.

(Though she adjusted, she didn't like it. She had put in too much effort to change how people viewed kunoichi just to take the easy way out and be a boy.)

She mastered crawling very quickly due to the control of the warmth that burned inside her similar enough to chakra that she didn't leave much thought in it. It was difficult to control though; the brilliant orange fire burned and flickered in her was large and overwhelming. It didn't seem to have any other property aside from overwhelming. Still, she dealt with it, with a degree of concentration she usually gave to the Yin Seal.

Her mother loves this development and laughs in that airheaded way of civilians that made her skin crawl. She learns to find this endearing though, because there was no one else, not even a father, to take care of her. (It helps her to think of Naruto.)

"Tsuna," her new mother says with a cheerful smile. "I have to leave you at the daycare, okay? Mama has to go to work."

There was a certain edge to her new mother's smile that felt familiar. Tsuna recognized it from when her old, previous mother had gone out to do some work at the hunter-nin's.

Tsuna cocked her head cutely to the side and giggled. It worked. Her new mother showed off a very sharp knife.

"Mama's in-charge of cleaning up Namimori, Tsu-chan," she explained. "There's a lot of trash, recently, so Mama's going to be very busy for a while."

Tsuna had to exert supreme effort in order not to roll her eyes. Euphemisms were nice, but taking it too far was something else.

Still, it's a nice thing to be proven wrong. Her mother isn't actually a civilian.

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* * *

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Daycare proved to be a place where all toddlers were dropped off when their parents were busy.

It was filled with harassed caretakers and a mass of cute children.

It was hell.

Tsuna took one look at the roiling mass of chaos and squirmed away under the cupboard. She was kicked out within two breaths, a pudgy toddler foot pushing her away with surprising strength.

"Out," a high pitched, irritated voice said. "er'bivore."

Tsuna felt something bubbling up her chest, a seething irritation that she blamed on what she did next. Without pause, she bit him.

There was a high-pitched, hastily stifled cry of pain. And then the toddler went out of the cupboard and his little eyes were angry slits on his face. Tsuna felt the Hokage in her stir with interest at the potential fight.

Tsuna bared her teeth in a parody of a smile and the boy did the same. It was a wonderful afternoon spent, trying to rub each other's faces on the floor. It reminded her of her genin team.

 _(Though usually, there was a third one laughing his head off as Sarutobi-sensei tried to make them stop.)_

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* * *

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The boy's name was Hibari Kyoya and they tried to pound each other down the floor every time they met.

It was such a strange reaction, given that the burning, the Fire, liked him. It extended wispy, grabby hands at the boy. Curiously enough, something within the boy reached back.

Unknowingly, her eyes had turned amber. Kyoya's eyes had, in turn, turned purple.

It happened only for a moment, and then quickly ignored. They had better things to do. Like who could kick harder.

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* * *

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Both of them became unconventional friends the day someone tried to bully Tsuna.

It was a stupid thing, mainly something she blamed on the Fire, flaring around and attracting attention like that.

Kyoya put a stop to that and both of them spent the rest of the afternoon trying to see who can make the bully flinch the hardest. (Psychological warfare is always more fun, somehow.)

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* * *

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"Mama," Tsuna said, glaring at the pants. "I don't like pants."

Nana, who had spent half of her pregnancy wishing for a little girl, blinks down with just a modicum of surprise and little to no resistance to the idea.

"Okay," the woman says with a firm nod. "Then we'll buy skirts. What color do you like?"

Tsuna thinks of the color red, the color of her old mother's hair. She thinks of Naruto's jacket and her apprentice's hair.

"Red?" she said, scrunching up her nose. "Orange? Maybe pink."

Nana laughs and buys three each.

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* * *

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Sawada Tsunayoshi becomes Sawada Tsuna, and then Sawada Tsunade.

Nana obliges her willful, strange daughter the change. Iemitsu, for all his failings, only blinks at the change wrought on the birth certificate and then calls home and congratulates his daughter for picking a lovely name.

Kyoya's reaction had been to wrinkle his nose and punch her just as usual. Tsuna laughed, the bruise already blooming and punching him right back.

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* * *

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Sawada Tsuna was a strange child.

She was biologically a boy - but enough teeth had been knocked loose that no one mentioned that anymore – but really acted like a tomboy.

It gave people headaches. If she acted unladylike and was actually a boy, wouldn't it be easier if she just stuck to the gender she was born with? (The people who asked that got _their_ teeth knocked loose by Hibari, so they stopped asking too.)

She wore bright, vibrant colors that clashed, usually orange, red and pink. She was friends with a violent, half-rabid boy and both of them spent a lot of time beating up each other as much as they beat up delinquents.

But sometimes, just sometimes, sudden instances of kindness shines through and leave people scratching their heads even more.

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 **Reviews are appreciated!**


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